This product is like new. At NexWave Games, like new means:
Additionally, all discs at NexWave Games are carefully inspected and assessed for quality. When discs arrive, we do not accept any that are so badly damaged that they are unlikely to work. We only accept discs with light scratches at most. Discs with scratches are then treated in our professional disc repair machine. By warming the disc and polishing it with soft brushes, these machines can remove a very thin layer from the disc. This removes the layer containing surface scratches and improves the disc’s readability. This ensures the disc works properly, even on consoles with ageing lasers that have difficulty reading games! Great news for the player.
Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings for PlayStation 2
Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings for PlayStation 2 lets you build a medieval empire while time advances continuously rather than in turns. You gather food, wood, gold and stone, found a settlement and lead it through four ages. New buildings unlock stronger units and research. Thirteen civilizations have distinct advantages, so an English archer army develops differently from Mongol cavalry or a Frankish knight assault.
Five historical campaigns follow William Wallace, Joan of Arc, Saladin, Genghis Khan and Barbarossa. Each mission sets specific goals, from defending a town and reaching allies to besieging a fortress. The PlayStation 2 version maps mouse commands to the DualShock 2 through a pointer, quick menus and groups of selected troops. Built-in instruction covers the economy, buildings and combat before the larger battles begin.
Beyond the campaigns, you can play random maps, Death Match and Regicide against computer opponents. A scenario and campaign editor lets you create maps, events and missions. The PS2 release contains the original Age of Kings material, not the civilizations and campaigns from The Conquerors or later remasters. Its focus is local solo play; old network features and external services are not promised to remain available.
Region and language
Our PlayStation 2 games are PAL editions and come with a Dutch or English box, unless stated otherwise. By default, you receive the version for the European market. We note it in the product details if the region is different or the box is in another language. In almost all cases, the game is playable at least in English, and often in the other five common European languages too.
Manual
Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings for PlayStation 2 includes the manual unless the product title states otherwise. If the booklet is missing, the title says “No Manual”. This lets you see before ordering whether the game comes with a manual.
The manuals included with our games usually contain at least English and often around six European languages. The exact languages vary by edition, so Dutch is not always included. The booklet explains the controls and the main rules. You can use it to check how to control the game, which actions are available and how its different features work.
The history of Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings
Ensemble Studios developed Age of Empires II as the sequel to Age of Empires. Microsoft released the Windows version in 1999, while Konami handled the PlayStation 2 edition that reached Europe in 2001. The design moved the series from antiquity to the Middle Ages and combined economic growth with large real-time battles. Historical notes and narrated campaign introductions provided context for the five stories.
The console version had to make a strategy game full of units and menus work without a mouse. It therefore used a movable on-screen pointer, selection tools and DualShock 2 shortcuts. The core remained familiar: workers sustain the economy, technology determines available troops, and walls, castles and siege weapons change how an assault is approached. The editor was retained as well, an uncommon feature in a console release.
The Conquerors later expanded the PC game, while HD Edition and Definitive Edition added presentation, civilizations and online features years afterward. That material is not part of this original PlayStation 2 disc. Its historical campaigns, thirteen civilizations and four ages make it a self-contained conversion of The Age of Kings. The rules remain real-time strategy, but the controls and technical presentation are specific to Sony's console.
Similar games for PlayStation 2
Command & Conquer: Red Alert on PlayStation 2 also revolves around resources, base construction and armies moving without turns. Its war takes place in an alternative twentieth century with tanks and superweapons. Age of Empires II develops more gradually through four ages, uses thirteen medieval civilizations and puts greater emphasis on workers, technology and historical campaigns.
Kessen presents large historical armies and lets you choose formations and orders beforehand, but the battle itself plays more like directed warfare. Age of Empires II gives direct control over workers, buildings and individual units on an open map. Both require planning ahead, while only Age of Empires lets you manage a complete economy and a settlement built from scratch.
Dynasty Tactics uses turn-based spaces and chains of tactical attacks around China's Three Kingdoms. Age of Empires II runs continuously and combines combat with resources and city development. Both feature historical leaders and campaigns, but Dynasty Tactics rewards carefully planned combinations each turn, whereas Age of Empires demands simultaneous attention to production, defense and several fronts.
Fire Warrior on PlayStation 2 inhabits the broad strategic universe of the tabletop games, but it is a direct first-person shooter without base building. Age of Empires II views the battlefield from above and lets you command entire armies and economies. Both include campaigns and besieged locations, although the scale of decision-making is completely different.
Ring of Red combines an alternative postwar Japan with turn-based movement and direct combat sequences between walking tanks. Age of Empires II uses real-time orders and medieval armies. Position matters greatly in both, but Ring of Red follows fixed units and story characters, whereas Age of Empires lets you build population, technology and fortifications from the ground up.
